McLean County Times

The Illinois State University Cross Country team will host the annual Redbird Invite on Friday at the Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Illinois. The event will begin at 9 a.m. with the men's 8,000-meter race, followed by the women's 6,000-meter race at 9:45 a.m.

Earlier this season, both the men’s and women’s teams from Illinois State competed in the Fighting Illini Invite on August 29, where each placed fourth. Junior transfer Nora Brady was the top finisher for the Redbird women, coming in sixth place. Freshman Quinn Davis led the men’s team with a 13th-place finish and was one of five athletes making their collegiate debuts. Five Redbird runners set personal-best times during that meet.

This year’s Redbird Invite will feature six teams: Northern Iowa, Wartburg, Southeastern Missouri State, Illinois Wesleyan, Western Illinois, and Chicago State. Wartburg's men's team is currently ranked second in the Division III National Coaches' Poll while its women's squad holds the 21st spot.

The Illinois State men’s and women’s squads have won both team titles at their home invite for two consecutive years. Sophomores Astrid Van Breedam and Julian Baker are among the highest-placing returners from last year’s competition.

Head coach Jeff Bovee commented on recent performances and goals for both teams. On the women’s squad he said: "There were a few cracks in execution a couple weeks ago. The effort was great, but it's more about our team racing. We split apart pretty early, so we want to learn to become more of a pack racing group and try to keep finish times at a much smaller margin than two weeks ago."

Addressing his expectations for the men’s squad Bovee stated: "The men need to work on a lot of the same things as the women. Since we're moving to 8,000 meters, we want to stick together through at least 5,000 meters. We should find out a lot more about ourselves this weekend. Everyone who is available and healthy will be racing. There's also some steep competition this weekend. Wartburg is super deep on the men's side. But, we're focused less on what everybody else is doing and more focused on becoming a better team racing group and getting better each time out."

The starting lineup for Illinois State's women includes Sophia Baumert (Fr.), Nora Brady (Jr.), Cameron Crump (Fr.), Maggie Reed (Sr.), Pauline Schedler (Fr.), Brooke Zeibert (Fr.), and Colleen Zeibert (So.). For the men’s team, Julian Baker (So.), Luke Barham (So.), Quinn Davis (Fr.), Will Gelon (So.), Blake Oleson (Jr.), Logan Scott (Fr.), Kane Shields (Jr.), Cayde De Waal (Jr.) and Josh Weeks (So.) are scheduled to compete.